Following up on what one defensive assistant said was the best defensive practice of the year on Tuesday and what Jon Sumrall said was high quality all the way around, Tulane put in another strong effort Wednesday. It is clear the coaches and players are taking North Texas very seriously, and a team with championship aspirations wants to prove it can play a complete game on both sides of the ball. Other than blowouts of distracted South Florida and overmatched UAB, Tulane has not done it this year, playing well on offense but not on defense against UL, turning in an excellent first half but mediocre second half against Kansas State, no-showing for the first half against Oklahoma and struggling offensively against Rice until Makhi Hughes took over in the fourth quarter.
The Wave needs to show it can win comfortably without relying on turnovers. Tulane's plus-12 in the turnover margin the past four games is insanely good, but I've always believed turnover margin was the most reflective stat of what has happened and the least predictive. A team with a really good run defense is very unlikely to suddenly get gouged for 300 yards on the ground, but a team with a fantastic turnover differential can lose that battle 3-0 in an individual game if the ball bounces a funny way. If Tulane can really slow down North Texas's prolific offense, which only Texas Tech has done this year, it will go a long way toward proving it can win the AAC, assuming the offense does not have the uncharacteristic bad drops and poor throws in the passing game that plagued it against Rice. North Texas is bad defensively but not quite as bad as its 120th ranking in yards allowed indicated. Because of the Mean Green's fast pace on offense, there are a lot of plays in its games. The defense is 101st in yards per play allowed.
Look for Adin Huntington to play a huge role Saturday. He is more comfortable at bandit than he was at end and also is healthier than he was earlier in the year. He had by far his best game against Rice, and Tulane will need to take time away from North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris. The Mean Green throws a lot of bubble screens, but they also take a lot of shots with vertical routes that require the quarterback having plenty of time to throw. With Huntington and Matthew Fobbs-White rotating in and out, they can disrupt those plays.
Will Hall was at Tulane's practice yesterday, but I did not see him today. I could see him in a consultant's role for the rest of the year and will check to see if it is a realistic possibility. He will be someone's offensive coordinator next season but needs to do something the rest of the year because football is in his blood.
The two-minute drill at the end of today's practice was sloppy, but Sumrall says it is more about just going over potential situations in games than executing crisply. Starting at the second-team defense's 45 and 55 seconds left on the clock, the first-team offense began with a 4-yard pass from Darian Mensah to Yulkeith Brown on the sideline. Next was an incomplete pass to Brown in traffic after Mensah held the ball a long time. Then came a scramble for a first down and a 5-yard pass to Arnold Barnes in the middle of the field, requiring a spike to stop the clock with 24 seconds left. A bad snap messed up third down, but Sumrall blew the play dead and had them try it again. This time, Mensah threw wide of Barnes. When a fourth down play did not work, Sumrall moved the ball to the 17-yard line and had Mensah take a snap under center, run to the center of the field and fall down for a 1-yard loss, setting up a winning field goal. Bobby Noel's 36-yard kick glanced off the right upright and went through, making him 3 for his last 3 at the end of Wednesday practices.
Tulane's practices are intense, but Sumrall also is more relaxed than Willie Fritz was at times. Today, he had a conversation with Fear The Wave collective co-head Mike Arata for several minutes as they walked down the field.
Sumrall, linebackers coach Tayler Polk and Mensah talked after practice. I had no idea Polk was as young as he is when he sat down for his interview. If anyone else requested players, I would have been sure he was a player I did not recognize. HIs last year at Ole Miss was 2017, and he looks even younger than he actually is (late 20s).
SUMRALL
On Tuesday's practice again:
"Really both sides was back to what a Tuesday should look like, opposite of the bye week Tuesday. But defensively the energy was good. The guys were focused. They understand the challenge. It's a tremendous challenge. These guys are top 10 in the country in scoring offense and total offense. It's not going to be an easy game. It's going to be tough sledding, so they've got to be prepared for what's coming. I thought they put their work in yesterday and today. They had two good days."
On today's practice overall:
"It was good. The two-minute drill we looked kind of sloppy on offense. We looked better all day. We do that as much as anything to work the in-the-game operation. It's less of a competitive drill than I want to work on situations."
On key to slowing down North Texas:
"They're tough because they make you defend every blade of grass. They will throw the screen game and run some fly sweep stuff and screen to the back and the tight end and No.10 (DT Sheffield) and then also throw four verticals a lot. They challenge you because they'll throw the ball 50 yards down the field or minus-5 yards, and you have to be ready for both. It definitely stretches you out a little bit, and you have to be prepared to defend the entire field."
On QB play from top teams in league:
"At every level, the better your quarterback is, the better your opportunity to be successful. I don't care if you're playing Pop Warner, middle school, high school, college or NFL football, the quarterback playing at a high level is critical. I bring this up a lot. Everybody around the quarterback playing well makes the quarterback's job easier, but the quarterback has to be able to execute and be efficient in everything you ask him to do. Their guy is playing at a high level. He's really playing quality football right now."
On Will Karoll:
"He was critical in the game. He flipped the field a lot. The thing that goes unnoticed is once he gets the ball in his hands, he's operating quickly. They rushed on three or four of them and brought more numbers than we had to protect, and he's been doing a great job of getting the ball off but then also punting it with great distance. This week's going to be a challenge because their returner is No. 10 (Sheffield), and he's created some huge returns this year (a long of 27 but an impressive average of 12.8) and we've got to make sure we at least make it harder on him to have clean access, but Will's been really good. He's a weapon for sure."
On getting North Texas offense out of rhythm:
"Their challenge is you can't give them the same thing the whole time, but they really want you to do is give them free access because then they have the ability to second release you down the field and hit the access throws. You have to take something away, and we're probably going to, particularly on No. 10, challenge him more than play off (of him). We've got to get down on him and we'e got to have somebody with the ability to play over the top of him some, but we're not going to play scared. The guys have to go challenge and get down. We don't press a lot to the field corner because that's a far throw. If they want to take that throw all day, that's usually something you'll give them, but we have to be aware of when we're pressing and when we're not and be really detailed with what's going on. We've got calls to mix it up and do both, but I don't think you can just sit back and play 8 yards deep against these guys because they will hit the screen game enough that they'll hit explosives in that area if you don't get down and challenge some."
On Huntington at bandit:
"Oh yeah, he creates some havoc. Him being healthy helps and us putting them helps him with being out there in a little more space, so he's able to create some real opportunities for himself there."
On Micah Robinson:
"He's got great feel in zone coverage, good vision, good ball skills, tracks it well. It was fun to see his on-the-ball production. He's been a pretty solid tackler for the most part. We've challenged him to come down and press a little bit more than he's used to. He's gotten better at that, but to see him have those critical plays was really cool."
The Wave needs to show it can win comfortably without relying on turnovers. Tulane's plus-12 in the turnover margin the past four games is insanely good, but I've always believed turnover margin was the most reflective stat of what has happened and the least predictive. A team with a really good run defense is very unlikely to suddenly get gouged for 300 yards on the ground, but a team with a fantastic turnover differential can lose that battle 3-0 in an individual game if the ball bounces a funny way. If Tulane can really slow down North Texas's prolific offense, which only Texas Tech has done this year, it will go a long way toward proving it can win the AAC, assuming the offense does not have the uncharacteristic bad drops and poor throws in the passing game that plagued it against Rice. North Texas is bad defensively but not quite as bad as its 120th ranking in yards allowed indicated. Because of the Mean Green's fast pace on offense, there are a lot of plays in its games. The defense is 101st in yards per play allowed.
Look for Adin Huntington to play a huge role Saturday. He is more comfortable at bandit than he was at end and also is healthier than he was earlier in the year. He had by far his best game against Rice, and Tulane will need to take time away from North Texas quarterback Chandler Morris. The Mean Green throws a lot of bubble screens, but they also take a lot of shots with vertical routes that require the quarterback having plenty of time to throw. With Huntington and Matthew Fobbs-White rotating in and out, they can disrupt those plays.
Will Hall was at Tulane's practice yesterday, but I did not see him today. I could see him in a consultant's role for the rest of the year and will check to see if it is a realistic possibility. He will be someone's offensive coordinator next season but needs to do something the rest of the year because football is in his blood.
The two-minute drill at the end of today's practice was sloppy, but Sumrall says it is more about just going over potential situations in games than executing crisply. Starting at the second-team defense's 45 and 55 seconds left on the clock, the first-team offense began with a 4-yard pass from Darian Mensah to Yulkeith Brown on the sideline. Next was an incomplete pass to Brown in traffic after Mensah held the ball a long time. Then came a scramble for a first down and a 5-yard pass to Arnold Barnes in the middle of the field, requiring a spike to stop the clock with 24 seconds left. A bad snap messed up third down, but Sumrall blew the play dead and had them try it again. This time, Mensah threw wide of Barnes. When a fourth down play did not work, Sumrall moved the ball to the 17-yard line and had Mensah take a snap under center, run to the center of the field and fall down for a 1-yard loss, setting up a winning field goal. Bobby Noel's 36-yard kick glanced off the right upright and went through, making him 3 for his last 3 at the end of Wednesday practices.
Tulane's practices are intense, but Sumrall also is more relaxed than Willie Fritz was at times. Today, he had a conversation with Fear The Wave collective co-head Mike Arata for several minutes as they walked down the field.
Sumrall, linebackers coach Tayler Polk and Mensah talked after practice. I had no idea Polk was as young as he is when he sat down for his interview. If anyone else requested players, I would have been sure he was a player I did not recognize. HIs last year at Ole Miss was 2017, and he looks even younger than he actually is (late 20s).
SUMRALL
On Tuesday's practice again:
"Really both sides was back to what a Tuesday should look like, opposite of the bye week Tuesday. But defensively the energy was good. The guys were focused. They understand the challenge. It's a tremendous challenge. These guys are top 10 in the country in scoring offense and total offense. It's not going to be an easy game. It's going to be tough sledding, so they've got to be prepared for what's coming. I thought they put their work in yesterday and today. They had two good days."
On today's practice overall:
"It was good. The two-minute drill we looked kind of sloppy on offense. We looked better all day. We do that as much as anything to work the in-the-game operation. It's less of a competitive drill than I want to work on situations."
On key to slowing down North Texas:
"They're tough because they make you defend every blade of grass. They will throw the screen game and run some fly sweep stuff and screen to the back and the tight end and No.10 (DT Sheffield) and then also throw four verticals a lot. They challenge you because they'll throw the ball 50 yards down the field or minus-5 yards, and you have to be ready for both. It definitely stretches you out a little bit, and you have to be prepared to defend the entire field."
On QB play from top teams in league:
"At every level, the better your quarterback is, the better your opportunity to be successful. I don't care if you're playing Pop Warner, middle school, high school, college or NFL football, the quarterback playing at a high level is critical. I bring this up a lot. Everybody around the quarterback playing well makes the quarterback's job easier, but the quarterback has to be able to execute and be efficient in everything you ask him to do. Their guy is playing at a high level. He's really playing quality football right now."
On Will Karoll:
"He was critical in the game. He flipped the field a lot. The thing that goes unnoticed is once he gets the ball in his hands, he's operating quickly. They rushed on three or four of them and brought more numbers than we had to protect, and he's been doing a great job of getting the ball off but then also punting it with great distance. This week's going to be a challenge because their returner is No. 10 (Sheffield), and he's created some huge returns this year (a long of 27 but an impressive average of 12.8) and we've got to make sure we at least make it harder on him to have clean access, but Will's been really good. He's a weapon for sure."
On getting North Texas offense out of rhythm:
"Their challenge is you can't give them the same thing the whole time, but they really want you to do is give them free access because then they have the ability to second release you down the field and hit the access throws. You have to take something away, and we're probably going to, particularly on No. 10, challenge him more than play off (of him). We've got to get down on him and we'e got to have somebody with the ability to play over the top of him some, but we're not going to play scared. The guys have to go challenge and get down. We don't press a lot to the field corner because that's a far throw. If they want to take that throw all day, that's usually something you'll give them, but we have to be aware of when we're pressing and when we're not and be really detailed with what's going on. We've got calls to mix it up and do both, but I don't think you can just sit back and play 8 yards deep against these guys because they will hit the screen game enough that they'll hit explosives in that area if you don't get down and challenge some."
On Huntington at bandit:
"Oh yeah, he creates some havoc. Him being healthy helps and us putting them helps him with being out there in a little more space, so he's able to create some real opportunities for himself there."
On Micah Robinson:
"He's got great feel in zone coverage, good vision, good ball skills, tracks it well. It was fun to see his on-the-ball production. He's been a pretty solid tackler for the most part. We've challenged him to come down and press a little bit more than he's used to. He's gotten better at that, but to see him have those critical plays was really cool."
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